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Faith’s
Here to Stay (Part One)…
by
Pastor Ron Fullerton
last week, towards the end of praise & worship…
the Lord gave me some specific instructions on some things
He
told me to go back to the ‘basics’ teaching on some things…
the first subject he had me write down on the list was
‘faith’
and
I a strong impression that He didn’t just want me to
‘spruce-up’ or ‘reword’ some past sermons…
but
to approach the subject with ‘new’ eyes…
like I’d never studied it before – so, here we go…
amazingly,
the word ‘faith’ is only used twice in the entire OT…
1st
–
when God told Moses the “children of Israel” didn’t have any...
Deut
32:20 (NKJ)
20 And He
(God) said: 'I (God) will hide My face from them,
I
(God)
will see what their end will be,
for they
are a perverse generation,
children in whom is
NO FAITH.
2nd
–
when the prophet Habakuk asked God about ‘the proud’ –
Hab 2:4 (NKJ)
4 Behold
the proud
(answered
God…),
his soul is
not
(present
tense) upright in him;
because
the ‘proud’ man’s “faith”… is totally in “himself”
but the
just
[THE
RIGHTEOUS – the man in right-standing with God
]…
shall
(future tense) live
[LIVE
PROSPEROUSLY IN LIFE AND HEALTH]
by his
faith.
‘technically’,
God was saying to those two great prophets…
In the OT the children of Israel had
NO
FAITH…
but in a future time to come… the ‘righteous’
WILL.
while in the OT, the word “faith” is used only 2 times…
in the New Testament, the word ‘faith’ is used 243 times
the
OT has 853 pages (2.7 times more) than the NT with 312 pages
but, if the NT had as many pages in it, as the OT does…
the
NT would have probably have used the word ‘faith’ 656 times
compared to only twice in the same number of pages as the OT
in
that scenario, with both ‘testaments’ having equal pages…
the word “faith” is used in the NT ... 328
TIMES
more often
Well,
Pastor… maybe that’s just a coincidence.
twice as often might be ‘coincidence’ –
NOT
328 times
as
often
then,
there’s also the ‘time’ issue you need to ‘factor in’…
the OT covers about 4,000 years of dialogue with God;
the NT covers less than a 100 years
‘faith’
in the NT is used 328 times more often… in 1/40th
the time
in a sense…
you’re looking at 13,000 times the intensity
Duhhh…
I wonder if God is really serious about this ‘faith’ stuff ???
in
the 4 Gospels, the word ‘faith’ is only used 29 times – 28 by
Jesus
and the only other time… it was used by the disciples
Luke 17:5
(NKJ)
And the
apostles said to the Lord, "Increase
OUR
faith."
EVERY
other
time (224) when the word ‘faith’ is used…
it’s used in the ‘letters’ written specifically...
to the Church – to
US
Well,
Pastor… those were letters written about a few men’s theories.
not according to Paul’s own words, they weren’t…
2 Tim
3:16 (NKJ)
16
ALL
Scripture is…
given by
inspiration of God
[theopneustos
literally – GOD-BREATHED],
and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for
instruction in righteousness…
if
those ‘God-breathed’ scriptures don’t
include
the New Testament...
Christians have been ‘world-class’ fools... for almost 2,000
years
since
we haven’t
been
‘world-class’ fools for almost 2,000 years
maybe we better take a much closer look at the subject of
“faith”...
because
it sure looks like ‘faith’ is something God planned-for…
and set-aside – almost exclusively – for this time… the
Church Age
Heb 11:6
(NKJ)
6 Without
[SEPARATE FROM; APART FROM]
faith…
it is
impossible
[UNABLE TO BE
DONE; IT IS NOT POSSIBLE]
to please
[TO BE ACCEPTABLE TO; TO BE AGREEABLE TO]
Him…
what
Paul wrote under the anointing of the Spirit of God, means…
all the ‘works’ you can do, won’t make you
‘acceptable’ to Him
having only a ‘smiley face’, won’t make you
‘acceptable’ to Him
perfect church attendance, won’t make you
‘acceptable’ to Him
being a ‘nice’ person, won’t make you ‘acceptable’
to Him
memorizing the whole NT, won’t make you ‘acceptable’
to Him
not smoking, or drinking, won’t make you
‘acceptable’ to Him
so,
folks – it’s time to find out exactly what God means by
‘faith’...
and we better start doing
exactly what we’re supposed to do with it
Pastor Ron
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Ph. 302-846-0701
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